Master's Program - Curriculum

Last update: August 23, 2018

You can complete the M.S.Ed. Program entirely in Tokyo or Osaka. You will also have an option to take all the core courses in Japan and 12 credits of the elective courses in Philadelphia. You could do so without any problems involving transfer of credits or loss of time. Wherever you take your classes, your diploma will be issued by the College of Education of Temple University in Philadelphia, a fully accredited and nationally recognized school of education in the United States.

TESL 5616: Designing Assessment and Curriculum for Multilingual Students

TESL 5618: Second Language Development

Elective Courses

Elective courses vary from semester to semester. Below are the titles of elective courses that have been recently offered. For courses offered for a particular semester, please see the course schedule for the Tokyo Center or the Osaka Center.

Introduction to the Study of TESOL

The Psychology of Learning

Classroom Management

Teaching Vocabulary to Second Language Learners

Current Issues in Bilingualism and Dual Language Education

Introduction to Research Methodology

Language Testing

Curriculum Development for Language Teachers

Teaching Listening and Speaking

Teaching Reading and Writing

Introduction to Conversation Analysis

Introduction to Sociolinguistics

Teaching Language Through Literature

Characteristics of Computer-based Instruction

Introduction to Japanese Language Research and Pedagogy

Workshop and Seminar in Teaching Japanese to Intermediate Level Learners

Introduction to Pragmatics for Language Teachers

Teaching English in the Elementary School

Contexts for Content Teaching and Learning

Issues and Practices in Teaching EFL writing

Multimedia Approaches to Teaching EFL

Individual Differences in Language Learning

Teaching English to Young Learners

Language Assessment

Adapting and Developing Language Teaching Materials

Intercultural Communication

Ecological Perspective on Language Learning

Speech Acts in Interaction

History of English Language Teaching

Strategies of Second Language Learners

Pragmatics and Language Learning: Enhancing Cultural Appropriateness of Second Language

Foundation of Educational Statistics

Teaching and Researching the Four Skills

Issues in Teaching, Learning and Researching L2 Writing

Distinguished Lecturer Series

Nine times a year, the Distinguished Lecturer Series brings internationally recognized TESOL and Applied Linguistics scholars to TUJ for intensive weekend seminars. This makes it possible for Temple students to study with an international faculty of specialists. A series of three 1-credit weekend seminars counts as the equivalent of one 3-credit graduate course. An individual seminar can be taken for one graduate credit.

If you are a new student and you are unable to take one of those four courses to start with, please consult the TUJ Graduate Education Office for advice on selecting an elective course. TESL 5618: Second Language Development and the Distinguished Lecturer Series seminars are probably more appropriate for students who are further along in the graduate program.

Completing the Degree

Students vary a great deal in their rate of progress. It is possible to complete the M.S.Ed. degree in one calendar year at the TUJ Tokyo and Osaka Centers*. However, the average time for completion is between two and three years. The Graduate School guidelines suggest that a candidate should finish in three years, but an extension to four years is automatic. In the past, the Graduate School has also granted fifth-year extensions in exceptional instances, but such extensions are granted only after special appeal.

Note: Depending on the timing of your start in the program, you might have to take the Comprehensive Exam the year following your completion of coursework. The Comprehensive Exam is offered twice every year, in January and May.